Stephen Strasburg

[Ambulance Chaser]

WOW.

One of the best pitching performances in baseball history, given the circumstances under which it was delivered. I was watching the game in my den and could feel the electricity in the stadium through the TV.

 

[Douglas]

Yeah, pretty amazing, and obviously he's going to be great, but you do have to keep in mind that nobody had ever seen him pitch before, and the league always catches up with these guys once there's some tape on them.

Still, an incredible debut. Struck out the last 7 batters he faced? Whiifffffffffffff.

Maybe if the Orioles suck for another few years we'll get the first picks in consecutive years.

 

[bdeuce22]

yes, that was an incredible performance. he is going to be a dominant pitcher.

 

[StephenHero]

He's great, but I wouldn't go overboard. It's really hard to prepare for a pitcher who you've never seen pitch. He also faced the Pirates, the worst offensive team in the league.

 

[bdeuce22]

true. he has tons of hype surrounding him and a 14K performance your first time out doesn't help douse the hype-fire, but just watching him pitch in the minors and yesterday, you can tell that his talent doesn't come around too often.

 

[Slopho]

He's going to be really good. I also remember Hideki Irabu's first start and he did pretty well as well.

Solid stuff, if you're trowing 101 in the 7th inning you're golden.

 

[runner-guy]

I'm sure hitters will eventually learn his pitches, but it was still a damn impressive performance.

 

[bdeuce22]

Originally Posted by Slopho

He's going to be really good. I also remember Hideki Irabu's first start and he did pretty well as well.

Solid stuff, if you're trowing 101 in the 7th inning you're golden.

yeah. there is not a lot of people who can throw that hard deep into a game. verlander is the only other one i can think of. his last start he topped 99 in the 9th.

 

[Ambulance Chaser]

Originally Posted by Douglas

Yeah, pretty amazing, and obviously he's going to be great, but you do have to keep in mind that nobody had ever seen him pitch before, and the league always catches up with these guys once there's some tape on them.
True, but on the flip side Strasburg is going to learn how to attack particular batters. He went into the game without a scouting report. And home-plate umpires are going to learn how his pitches move.

Originally Posted by Douglas

Maybe if the Orioles suck for another few years we'll get the first picks in consecutive years.
I consider getting Strasburg and Harper in back-to-back drafts, and the O's current predicament, sweet karma for all those years Peter Angelos fought to keep a baseball team out of DC.

 

[horndog]

If you watched yesterday's game you can see how having a veteran catcher (Ivan Rodriguez) helps so much. Strasburg started strong, lulled a bit (relative) in the mid innings, and then had a little chat with Rodriguez and struck out the last 7.

I think everyone agrees that Strasburg isn't going to throw like this every game, he'll choke hard some times, he even had a homer hit on him last night, but the kid's got amazing stuff and a good head to boot.

And yeah Ambulance Chaser, I think this is all karma for Angelos being a *********.

 

[Slopho]

Originally Posted by horndog

If you watched yesterday's game you can see how having a veteran catcher (Ivan Rodriguez) helps so much. Strasburg started strong, lulled a bit (relative) in the mid innings, and then had a little chat with Rodriguez and struck out the last 7.

I think everyone agrees that Strasburg isn't going to throw like this every game, he'll choke hard some times, he even had a homer hit on him last night, but the kid's got amazing stuff and a good head to boot.

And yeah Ambulance Chaser, I think this is all karma for Angelos being a *********.

As an O's fan I've never really understood the anger towards Petey. He use to meddle, USE TO, but now-a-days he rarely gets involved with anything. His big mistakes took place in the late 90's, he didn't do two trades:

1. Anderson to New York for Bernie Williams

2. Alomar to Cleveland for Lofton

and he ran out then Manager of the Year Davey Johnson and probably the best GM in the last 25 years in Pat Gillick. Since then most of this team's problems have been a result of ****** draft after ****** draft. I mean Billy Rowell who was selected 1 spot ahead of Tim Lincecum is still in AA.

 

[Douglas]

Originally Posted by Ambulance Chaser

He went into the game without a scouting report.

Maybe you have some source that proves this is true, but it is generally not at all true, and if it is, it is puzzling and stupidity on the part of the Nat's coaching staff. The coaches would have given him a pretty good idea of what to throw to whom, and when. This is an acknowledged phenomenon - rookies have an initial edge because they know more about established hitters (and pitchers too, this works on offense as well) than the hitters know about them. They all cool off somewhat. It's adjusting to the adjustments that becomes important their second time around the league.

Again, I'm not disputing that Strasburg looks like he's going to be great, but we do have to put this accomplishment in some perspective, that's all.

I consider getting Strasburg and Harper in back-to-back drafts, and the O's current predicament, sweet karma for all those years Peter Angelos fought to keep a baseball team out of DC.

**** Peter Angelos. I hate him. He has gutted what was once a great and noble franchise and turned it into an embarrassment. It is a giant, hulking, sucking beast that devours good baseball men like Davey Johnson, Leo Mazzone, Ray Miller, and now Dave Trembley. It has alienated a loyal fan base, likely inalterably for at least a generation. Think about it: After this season, there will be teenagers in Baltimore who have never, ever seen a winning product on the field. By now, they're immersed in football, or lacrosse, or extreme sports, or MMA, or whatever. What reason would they have now to start coming to the ballpark? And through all that futility, still somehow the O's became the poster boy for steroid use in the sport: Tejada, Palmeiro, Segui, etc - the O's had 19 players and former players named in the Mitchell Report - 2nd most of all teams. What a colossal joke.

The problem is, IMO, that he runs the team like a lawyer, and not like a businessman. He has no idea what it is to satisfy a customer (or fan base) over the long-term. He is very skilled in individual negotiations, and in "winning" small battles, and as a lawyer, never really has had to worry about the longer-term ramifications. He won big in the Nats sweepstakes; he got an MLB settlement with TV rights, and he's laughing to the bank, while in the meantime "Baltimore" was never on any of the road jerseys because it might have jeopardized that negotiating position, and the team itself was neglected.

I have suffered through a lot for this damned team, and it pisses me off. Yet still, if there's a game on, I cannot help but tune my radio to the play-by-play. I'm like a forgotten, jilted lover who still jerks off to pics of my ex.

 

[Douglas]

Funny how Slopho and I have such widely varied opinions on PA. What is strange is that I held much the same opinion that he did until the past couple of years. I think he's shouldered blame for things that were not necessarily his fault directly, but after thirteen years, and here in the 13th with us deeper in the tank than ever before, the blame for the monster that has been created can only lie with the guy at the top. I'll admit that some of the shrill complaints are silly, but sooner or later, somebody's got to take responsibility for the totality of the continuing failure.

 

[Slopho]

Originally Posted by Douglas

Maybe you have some source that proves this is true, but it is generally not at all true, and if it is, it is puzzling and stupidity on the part of the Nat's coaching staff. The coaches would have given him a pretty good idea of what to throw to whom, and when. This is an acknowledged phenomenon - rookies have an initial edge because they know more about established hitters (and pitchers too, this works on offense as well) than the hitters know about them. They all cool off somewhat. It's adjusting to the adjustments that becomes important their second time around the league.

Again, I'm not disputing that Strasburg looks like he's going to be great, but we do have to put this accomplishment in some perspective, that's all.



**** Peter Angelos. I hate him. He has gutted what was once a great and noble franchise and turned it into an embarrassment. It is a giant, hulking, sucking beast that devours good baseball men like Davey Johnson, Leo Mazzone, Ray Miller, and now Dave Trembley. It has alienated a loyal fan base, likely inalterably for at least a generation. Think about it: After this season, there will be teenagers in Baltimore who have never, ever seen a winning product on the field. By now, they're immersed in football, or lacrosse, or extreme sports, or MMA, or whatever. What reason would they have now to start coming to the ballpark? And through all that futility, still somehow the O's became the poster boy for steroid use in the sport: Tejada, Palmeiro, Segui, etc - the O's had 19 players and former players named in the Mitchell Report - 2nd most of all teams. What a colossal joke.

The problem is, IMO, that he runs the team like a lawyer, and not like a businessman. He has no idea what it is to satisfy a customer (or fan base) over the long-term. He is very skilled in individual negotiations, and in "winning" small battles, and as a lawyer, never really has had to worry about the longer-term ramifications. He won big in the Nats sweepstakes; he got an MLB settlement with TV rights, and he's laughing to the bank, while in the meantime "Baltimore" was never on any of the road jerseys because it might have jeopardized that negotiating position, and the team itself was neglected.

I have suffered through a lot for this damned team, and it pisses me off. Yet still, if there's a game on, I cannot help but tune my radio to the play-by-play. I'm like a forgotten, jilted lover who still jerks off to pics of my ex.


There's a reason a guy is a "minor league" manager for almost 20 years. Ray Miller, great pitching coach, horrible manager. He should be our piching coach again. Leo Mazzone was fired for trying to turn D+ and C- pitchers into Maddux and Glavine. That wasn't going to happen, but I don't know if I blame PA for that. I'm looking at the two big trades we had in the last 2 years. Its official, we didn't get anything for Tejada (Troy Patton...where are you?) the Bedard trade (Jones .250 average, Sherrill, who we should have kept, and Tillman 7.71 ERA) I'm sure will get better but not this year. I think people thought Markakis would be a 35HR 125RBI guy but he may only be a 20HR 100RBI #3type guy. And for the love of GOD...why are Alberto Castillo and Garrett Atkins still on this roster.

I used to read the Baltimore Sun a couple of years ago an in the comments section after every loss there was a guy who kept say "But Baltimore back on the front of the DAMN jerseys"...was that you??

 

[Douglas]

I don't disagree with you in the slightest on either Trembley or Miller. I think Trembley could have been successful somewhere, under the right circumstances, maybe, but my point isn't so much that they were fired. Of course they were fired - and everyone knew they would be fired from the day they took the job. Everyone knew they would fail. So you have to ask yourself why were they put there in the first place, or why was the environment around them so dismal that failure was inevitable?

As for the "Baltimore," I was not that guy. Like any site with public comments allowed, of course there is a lot of idiocy. But the jersey thing is a pretty nice microcosm of how/why Angelos runs the club the way he does.

The results of that speak for themselves.